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Are Your Competitors Winning the Top Talent?

Posted May 5th, 2017

You have a position open and know a few prime candidates whom you’d like to fill it. However, when you do a bit of sleuthing and reaching out, you discover they’ve already gotten snapped up…by a competitor. You know you have a solid company and people seem to like working here, so why did those candidates choose to go elsewhere? And how can you better position yourself so next time, you catch the big fish? You might need more appetizing bait and better equipment.

Examine your online presence. You know by now that candidates go to a potential employer’s website and check out their social media and reviews to get a feel for the company before applying. First, make sure your company has strong reviews on sites such as Glassdoor. Get current and previous employees who had good experiences to write positive reviews, and get clients to recommend you on LinkedIn. On your own site, make sure it’s user-friendly, especially with regard to posting available positions and the application itself. Consider posting pictures of your employees and info about events both business and social to show your company culture.

Streamline your hiring process. A primary frustration for candidates? A difficult or complicated hiring process. If you use an applicant tracking system (ATS), make sure it allows candidates to save and come back later and the application isn’t too long to complete. You also want to stay on top of responding to potential hires, even if it’s a form email letting them know the next step in the process. Companies that drag out the hiring process basically indicate they’re unorganized, uninterested or both. Using a staffing agency like PrideStaff can help you move the process along efficiently.

Know who you are and make that enticing. Candidates want to work for a company with a strong mission and sense of direction; they want to work at a place where the current employees and executives feel passionate about what they do and why they do it. Examine your own branding — do you have a clear mission statement that employees live and put into their daily routines? Are you transparent about what you do and why you do it? Do your core values stand out? And how can the way you present it (language, visuals) pique the interest of talented potential hires?